This invention relates to a process of making coal-containing pellets for gasification in a reactor under pressures in the range from 5 to 150 bars by means of oxygen, steam and/or carbon dioxide as gasifying agents in a process in which the pellets are fed in the reactor to the top of a gradually descending fixed bed, the gasifying agents are introduced into said fixed bed from below, and the mineral constituents are withdrawn as solid ash or liquid slag from the bottom of the fixed bed.
Such process is known from European Patent No. 10792. The gasification of granular coal in a fixed bed is explained, e.g., in Ullmanns Enzyklopadie der technischen Chemie, 4th edition (1977), Vol. 14, on pages 383 to 386. Details of the gasification process in which the acid remains solid are apparent from U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,540,867 and 3,854,895 and Published German Application No. 2,201,278.
The modified process in which liquid slag is withdrawn has been explained in British Patent Specification Nos. 1,507,905; 1,508,671 and 1,512,677. In said known processes a granular fuel having particle sizes in the range from about 3 mm to about 60 mm is supplied to the gasification reactor.